Zach and I haven’t been to Disney World as a couple together since prior to taking Kye for his first visit. I was really excited to experience the parks with just Zach and was interested to see how different it would be without the kids with us. I thought it was genius planning of Zach to book us for the Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. The tickets are cheaper, the park is beautiful, and it’s an event we can’t do with the kids because it ends so late (I know MANY families to do it and we may someday with the kids but not yet!).
We took our time getting to the park and enjoyed the luxury of on property transportation from the resort. We hoped in the boat that would take us to Magic Kingdom!
As soon as we walked in we just felt weird. Usually we’re in a mad dash and have an itinerary of which rides to ride in which order. I’m snapping pics of the kids like a crazy woman and we’re just in the zone. This time there were no plans. No kids. It was strange. My only regret of the trip is that I didn’t walk slowlllly down Main Street. That was something I was excited to do and when we got there I just didn’t think about it. By the time we went to do it everything was dark and crowded. I just want to spend TIME on Main Street and soak it in. Random? Maybe! But it’s something I’ve always wanted to be able to do!
We had this moment where we both stopped walking and looked at each other and asked what we should do. It really took us time to adjust to it just being us!!! We decided to hit up Buzz first since we were right near it 🙂 And, again, it was strange to get to actually sit together on a ride!!! We are always splitting up now to ride with the kids!
I actually only rode Buzz, Little Mermaid, Jungle Cruise, Phillarmagic and Pirates that night. Yup. 5 rides!!! I wanted to ride Haunted Mansion b/c it’s one we can’t do with the kids (too scary) but it was closed. Zach did ride all the “grown up” rides too!
7 Dwarfs Mine Train
Splash Mountain (haha)
Space Mountain (I DIED when I saw this!)
I was so surprised by how many friends I had at Disney at the same time we were! My friend Liz was even staying in our resort! We weren’t able to meet up with her but we did find Sara and Nicole…we went to the same high school but graduated different years and have reconnected thanks to blogging and social media! It was great to say hey in person!!!
I’ve been to the Christmas Party a couple of times and I have to say that the castle was THE prettiest I’ve ever seen it! They had a show where Elsa lighted the castle. No, we didn’t watch it. But I heard it was an amazing show!
We stopped at the Christmas Shop which I’ve never been to before. But hello. Our thing is to get a Christmas ornament at every vacation we take. DUH we should be going in that store every Disney trip!!! I LOVE the ornament we got! It perfectly symbolizes our trip together 🙂
Back of the castle
Beautiful moon
One of the best parts of the Christmas Party is the free cookies and hot chocolate! SO good! We actually only got it once. We had that huge lunch and just weren’t overly hungry.
When Zach purchased the vacation package he decided to get us the Deluxe Dining Plan. Which means we got 3 meals and 2 snacks each and had 24 hours to use them all since we were staying 1 night at the resort. Y’all. That is a LOT of eating haha! We paid out of pocket for our lunch earlier that day and planned to use all 3 meal options the following day. Obviously we knew we’d be STUFFED. So we ate the late lunch and used one of our snacks for our “dinner.”
Usually at Disney we LOVE the orange floats in Adventureland (people often think we love the Dole Whip Ice Cream but we don’t…it’s an orange soda float that we love!) so that’s the only real snack we ever get in the parks. Well. That has now officially changed! We got cream cheese filled pretzels and they were a game changer! They are only available in Tomorrowland! SO yummy!
We had only a 4% chance of rain for our day. So we left the rain gear at the hotel room b/c we weren’t bringing a stroller and didn’t really want to carry around a bunch of rain stuff we wouldn’t need. 4% chance. And we had a LOT of rain.
It was a big day for my foot. The shopping and then the park walking. And I didn’t want to add a WET foot on top of the painful foot! So I ended up sitting in Tomorrowland and people watching while Zach went and rode Space Mountain. Once the rain dissipated we headed to Jungle Cruise.
I LOVE themed stuff and thought it was so fun that they changed the Jungle Cruise to the JINGLE Cruise! We both love it and our boat driver was hilarious.
Phillarmagic…thinking of Britt since it’s her fav!
Zach really wanted to ride the new Mine Train so I told him to go for it. I figured I’d hop in line to meet some characters. I wasn’t about to meet Elsa and Ana without the kids but I figured they wouldn’t mind if I met Cinderella and Rapunzel. Zach isn’t really into character meetings so I thought it was a good opportunity! I ended up being in line with this girl who was adorable. She was in the line solo as well but was like a good 8 years younger than me 😉 We ended up talking the entire time and I actually enjoyed talking with her more than meeting the princesses! She LOVES Disney and is trying to get a chance to work at the parks and has auditioned and such. So it was very interesting hearing about things I’ve never known about Disney. She said one of the castings for princesses they just walked in and told people they were either out or could move on to the next round just based on looks alone!
Zach got done WAY before I did. The line said 20 min for the princesses but it was more like 40. Oops. I was pretty committed at that point so he joined me in line. 😉
I was more excited about Flynn Rider than Rapunzel. Not gonna lie…totally have a cartoon crush on Flynn 😉
We’d heard that if you ask Flynn what’s in his bag he will pull out the crown. But Zach asked and instead he said he found something and they both started on this long narrative about this number they had found on the ground and the story behind it. It was cute!
Hahaha
Cinderella and Prince Charming
Isn’t the castle SO pretty reflecting off the water?
My camera was on auto (I try to learn manual but c’mon life is easier in auto) so we had a hard time getting a picture of us in front of the castle. It was either the castle looking awesome and me looking dark or me looking fine and the castle looking dark. Oh well!
Another thing I LOVE about the Christmas party is the SNOW down Main Street!!!
We had a goal not to leave the park until it closed b/c I really wanted to see The Kiss Goodnight (you can read more about it here). Unfortunately it seemed like it was never going to happen! It was after midnight and I finally asked some cast members about it and they said when it’s a party night they often don’t do it. Plus it had rained a I guess the rain had made some of the parades and shows have to be canceled. People were, legit, lined down Main Street to complain. Really? It was after midnight. You’re going to stay at the park even later and stand in a massively long line just to complain? I highly doubt they did anything anyway. I’m sure the tickets say that all events are weather permitting!!!
We went into Emporium to walk around and get a thank you gift for Mrs. Charlotte for keeping the kids.
All night I’d been texting with Rachael trying to see about meeting up with them. FINALLY it worked out!!! I could have stayed in the store all night just talking with her and Greg and her parents. I LOVE Rach and it was one of the highlights of the trip to get to see her, even just for those few minutes. I’m so beyond thankful to have her as my friend 🙂
I included this pic b/c I love how her dad is in the background of it checkin out the book selection in an attempt to give us privacy 😉 Her parents are SO sweet!
I realllllly wish we all lived closer. We ALL like each other which I mean is hard to find in friendships, right?
Goodnight from Magic Kingdom!
Whew. It was a LONG day! We got on the boat to head back to the resort. It was a pretty chilly ride haha. We were both exhausted and we still had a big day the next day ahead!!!
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